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EDITORS’ NOTES

After making the experimental hit album Slave to the Rhythm with producer Trevor Horn, Grace Jones went back to basics for 1986’s Inside Story. Produced and arranged by disco-funk mastermind Nile Rodgers (a friend of Jones’ since the Studio 54 days), the album focuses on the sultry, tightly woven grooves that had always been an important part of Jones’ sound but up to this point hadn't been the main attraction. “I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Perfect for You)” is one of the toughest, jazziest songs of Rodgers’ or Jones’ career. Meanwhile, “Crush” and the reggae-tinted “Party Girl” are glossy dance tunes that are far more intricate than they initially appear. The album exudes the mysterious glamour of an international travelogue, as we meet the characters of “Chan Hitchhikes to Shanghai” and “Victor Should Have Been a Jazz Musician.” We get a sense of Jones’ misadventures in La La Land on “Hollywood Liar” and “Barefoot in Beverly Hills.” While Jones remained an icon of the colorful '80s, Inside Story also cast a critical eye on the decade's excesses in “White Collar Crime” and the beautiful but rueful “Scary but Fun.”

EDITORS’ NOTES

After making the experimental hit album Slave to the Rhythm with producer Trevor Horn, Grace Jones went back to basics for 1986’s Inside Story. Produced and arranged by disco-funk mastermind Nile Rodgers (a friend of Jones’ since the Studio 54 days), the album focuses on the sultry, tightly woven grooves that had always been an important part of Jones’ sound but up to this point hadn't been the main attraction. “I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Perfect for You)” is one of the toughest, jazziest songs of Rodgers’ or Jones’ career. Meanwhile, “Crush” and the reggae-tinted “Party Girl” are glossy dance tunes that are far more intricate than they initially appear. The album exudes the mysterious glamour of an international travelogue, as we meet the characters of “Chan Hitchhikes to Shanghai” and “Victor Should Have Been a Jazz Musician.” We get a sense of Jones’ misadventures in La La Land on “Hollywood Liar” and “Barefoot in Beverly Hills.” While Jones remained an icon of the colorful '80s, Inside Story also cast a critical eye on the decade's excesses in “White Collar Crime” and the beautiful but rueful “Scary but Fun.”